Time to register for the SAT and ACT

Parents, it's time to register for the next SAT and ACT.  Registration is open and the best test sites can fill up quickly.

Here are some factors to consider in selecting a test location.

1. Is the test site convenient?  How long does it take travel to it?  What is the parking situation at the site?.  If the test site is a large high school or college campus, does your child know how to find his/her way to the testing location?
2. How large are the classrooms where the students test?  How many students will be in each classroom.  I usually prefer that students select the smaller venues since there are usually less distractions.  
3. Have any of your friends taken a test there before?  Talk to them and find out what their experience was like.

Fall SAT dates:  October 11, November 8, and December 6.  Go to www.collegeboard.com for more info and to register.

Fall ACT dates:  September 13, October 25, and December 13.  Go to www.actstudent.org for more info and to register.

Both the College Board and the ACT have prep material available online.  Here are links to their materials:

http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice

http://www.actstudent.org/testprep

Also, I will be teaching classes for both the SAT and ACT this Fall.  My next ACT class begins on August 11th and my next SAT class begins on September 2nd.  Visit my website for more information,  www.knowledgeguides.net

The Redesign of the SAT and How to be Prepared

According to the College Board, the SAT will be redesigned in 2016.  This new version of the test will first be administered in March 2016.  However, the new version of the PSAT will appear in October, 2015. 

Current 9^th graders will be the first to be affected by these changes since they will be juniors in 2015 and take the PSAT in the Fall of 2015 and the SAT in the Spring of 2016.  However, these students will have options.  One option will be for them to take the current version of the SAT in the Fall of 2015 or even as late as January 2016(anticipated).  Then, take the new version of the test and see which score is better.  In all likelihood the vast majority of colleges will still accept the old version of the test.  This is how it worked the last time the College Board introduced a new version of the test in 2005.  

Another option for these students(current 9^th graders, class of 2017) will be to opt for the ACT if they can score better on it.

Current 10^th graders will be seniors in March, 2016 and would not take the new tests in most cases.  They should have all their testing done by this time.

Here is a link to information on some of the changes to the test:  http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/college-board-unveils-sample-sat-items/38179

Here is a link to information from the College Board on the new test:  https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat?affiliateId=satsite&bannerId=rsat-hp

James Pipkin

Knowledge Guides Prep

www.knowledgeguides.net

Summer Learning Opportunities for Kids

By James Pipkin

Arlington and the surrounding area offer many outstanding Summer learning activities for kids.  Summer is a great time for kids to brush up on a skill or get ahead so that they are ready for the upcoming school-year.  This can be done by enrolling your child in a course, teaching them yourself, or by hiring a tutor.

Summer Classes

Several schools and colleges in the area have Summer courses.  For example, one of the best Summer programs is the Summer in the Oaks Programs at the Oakridge School in Arlington.   In this program, students can take a course in algebra or geometry,  work on their writing skills, or take an SAT Class.  Another popular course teaches kids how to improve their study skills.  In addition, there are recreational courses in which students learn how to fish or how to bake.  There’s even a class for kids to learn about CSI techniques.

To find out more about the Oakridge Summer in the Oaks Course, please visit: 

http://www.theoakridgeschool.org/summerprograms

UTA also has Summer programs through their Continuing Education Division.  UTA has both academic and recreational programs for elementary students and test prep for high school students.  

To find out more, visit:  https://www.uta.edu/wconnect/ShowSchedule.awp?~~GROUP~yopsum

TCU also has a well-known Summer reading program with classes for ages.  Visit the following link to find out more:  http://tcu.readingprograms.org/

Tutoring Programs

One of the best ways to improve a specific skill in the Summer is through individual tutoring.    A tutoring program can address a lingering skill deficiency or help a child master a subject.  A qualified tutor will be able to select the right materials for you to use and recommend a program that will work best for you.  To find a good tutor, ask your friends for referrals.

James Pipkin coaches high school students on how to raise their SAT and ACT scores. James is author of “The Parent’s Guide to the SAT and ACT” and owner of Knowledge Guides, a test-prep center based in Arlington.

James Pipkin
Knowledge Guides Prep
817-451-6200
www.knowledgeguides.net

SAT® or ACT®: Which Test Should Your Child Take?

Excerpt from The Parent’s Guide to the SAT and ACT by James Pipkin, 2007

Many parents come to a crossroads regarding which admissions test would be best for their child. Many stick with the test that is more prevalent among colleges in their area. For example, the ACT is more prevalent in Oklahoma and Arkansas, whereas the SAT is more popular in Texas. Surprisingly, this is not because colleges in these places exclusively require one test or the

other. In fact, I do not know of a single school in any of these three states that exclusively requires either test. Therefore, students should choose according to what is best for them.

The best approach for nearly every student is to take both. A student may elect not to send the scores to schools from any test until he or she is ready. For example, say a student plans to take both tests during the spring of their junior year but is not sure how they will do. They can decide not to send the scores to any colleges until they find out how they did. There is an additional fee but it might be worth it just to relieve some of the pressure. If they like their, scores they can go ahead and have them sent to the colleges to which they are applying or they can decide to take either test again and then send the scores. When colleges receive the scores, the last six scores

will show up on the SAT. (I am not sure of this practice with the ACT.)

Another reason to take both is that some students may do better on one test than the other. This may depend on a student having skills that are better suited to one test more than the other. For example, some students who have strong vocabularies have an advantage on the SAT because of the sentence completion questions, which require you to pick which word fits in the blank in a sentence. Likewise, students who know all the key math formulae have an edge on the ACT because these useful formulae are not included in the test instructions; students must know them. In contrast, these formulae are present as part of the SAT instructions so students do not have to know or memorize them.

Sometimes a student may feel more comfortable with the nature and design of one test over the other. I had a student last year who did well on the ACT math section but poorly on the SAT math section. This difference appeared consistently on both real and practice tests. She was above the 60^th percentile on the ACT math section and around the 40th percentile on the SAT math section. The only explanation I could come up with was that the layout of the ACT fit her better. Taking both tests will give the student feedback that he or she can use to decide if another test is a good idea and which test on which to focus their preparation. If the student does considerably better on one test, they should probably study for and take that test again.

James Pipkin coaches high school students on how to raise their SAT and ACT scores. James is author of “The Parent’s Guide to the SAT and ACT” and owner of Knowledge Guides, a test-prep center based in Arlington.


James Pipkinwww.knowledgeguides.net

Do kids get enough homework?

Do kids in junior high and high school get enough homework, or too much?  The opinions vary widely depending on which parent you ask.  Parents of kids who are active in sports or other extracurricular activities sometimes feel that teachers give too much homework.  However, some of the same kids who play sports or are involved in other extracurricular activities are some of the best students because they have the skills needed to manage their limited time and get their schoolwork done.  Some parents feel that enough time is set aside during to school day to get the work done, and the kids should not be given any extra.

A parent’s opinion of homework may also depend whether or not their child is in pre-AP or AP classes.  These honors classes typically demand a lot of outside homework so kids who take them sometimes lack for free time during the week.  I have observed over the years that kids in honors classes or private school tend to get more homework than kids in regulars classes at public school.  This concerns me though because many of the kids in regulars classes at public school are in the recommended degree plan and plan to go to college.

I know kids in regulars classes get some homework, and some may get more depending on the teacher.  I am just not convinced that they get enough.  I have tutored many kids over the years who could’ve benefited from more homework.   In college, students have to be disciplined enough to study on their own each day, plan and write research papers, and complete projects and assignments for different types of courses.  For students who have never an adequate amount of homework and assignments that they have to do on their own, this is difficult.

What do I think can be done about this?  I suggest that, if you are concerned that your child doesn’t get enough homework, you start a constructive dialog with your child’s teacher or school.  Get their point of view.  Maybe they already have a plan for this. 

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this issue, whether you agree or disagree.  I would like to know how some of you parents feel about whether your child gets enough homework.

Preparing for the SAT and ACT on a Budget

When to take the first SAT and ACT

Spring is the time for high school juniors to take their first SAT^® and ACT^®.  Spring is also the time for seniors to take that one last test to qualify for their chosen college or for that coveted scholarship.  There are 3 SAT tests and 2 ACT tests available for the rest of the Spring.  Students can sign up for the SAT at www.collegeboard.org and for the ACT at www.act.org .  These sites also have a great deal of practice materials available for free.

How to Start Preparing for the SAT

The College Board site has practice questions and explanations for each of the three areas tested by the SAT.  The reading section consists of vocabulary and reading comprehension questions.  The math section ranges from questions over basic arithmetic to questions on Algebra II and Statistics.  The writing section includes an essay as well as multiple choice questions which test a student’s understanding of grammar and usage.   The College Board site has sample essays which students can review to learn how to improve their essays. 

Practicing on the different areas of the SAT will help students become familiar with what is being tested and how to arrive at the correct answer.  When the student is ready, he or she can begin working on the full practice test available on the College Board site.  This does not have to be done all at once.  However, students should try to time each section so that they are able to practice on how best to pace themselves on the test. 

How the ACT and SAT are Different

The ACT test is different from the SAT in several ways.  Most of the skills that are tested are the same, i.e. math, reading, and grammar.  The only section that is new on the ACT is the Science section.  However, the Science section is really testing how well students interpret figures and charts more than their knowledge of science.  Another difference in the two tests is how the sections are arranged.  The ACT consists of 4 longer sections plus an optional essay whereas the SAT has 10 shorter sections.  SAT sections range in length from 10 to 25 minutes while the ACT ranges from 35 to 60 minutes.  How students should approach guessing is also different.  On the ACT, students should answer every question even if they have to bubble a bunch in at the end.  In contrast, since the SAT has a guessing penalty, it is helpful to be able to at least eliminate two or three incorrect answers before taking a guess.  There are different approaches to the best ways to guess, but I prefer for students to work at a steady pace and skip questions if they cannot eliminate at least one wrong answer.  The last difference in the two tests that I’ll discuss is that the SAT provides a list of basic formulas at the beginning of each math section while the ACT does not.  However, students taking the ACT can start by studying the list of formulas at the beginning of an SAT section in order to be prepared for most of the math questions requiring formulas.  Add the distance and slope formula, and the circle equation, and you have most of the formulas you will need on the ACT.

The ACT site, www.act.org , also has plenty of free practice material for students to use in their preparation.  In addition, like the College Board site, there is a full-length practice test that students can take.  Again, this practice test doesn’t have to be taken all in one sitting.  However, students should try to time each section so that they know how to pace themselves.  After they finish the practice test, students can calculate their score and see what areas they need to work on.

Study Guides and Online Courses

After your child works through the online material, consider purchasing The Official SAT Study Guide with DVD for further prep for the SAT or The Real ACT Prep Guide to prep for the ACT.  Both of these books are the best prep books available because they include actual retired tests.  Practicing on actual material from past tests gives students a better feel for what to expect from the real test.  Most of the other prep books on the market include practice tests that the writers of the book created.  Sometimes the writers of these books do a decent job replicating the difficulty level of the actual tests, and when this is the case the books are useful.  But, I have seen prep books that are either much too difficult or too easy, and neither of these extremes is helpful to a student preparing for a real test.  So, stick with prep books from the makers of the test.  These books are around $30 to $35 if you buy them from the bookstore, but are available for considerably less online.  Also, they can be checked out for free from your local library.

The College Board and ACT sites both have online courses that students can purchase.  According to the College Board website, the online costs $69.95 and “you get 10 online tests, 18 interactive lessons and personalized essay scoring.”  The ACT online course costs $19.95 according to their website and includes a “personalized Study Path” and real practice material.

Take both the SAT and ACT Multiple Times

Finally, students should not be hesitant to take the SAT or ACT several times.  Contrary to some rumors, I have never seen any evidence that taking the test multiple times hurts a students chances of getting into their chosen college.  It simply doesn’t make sense that a school would penalize a student for getting a better score on their 3^rd or 4^th test.  On the contrary, the college will simply put the test score into their admission formula and treat it the same as if it were the first test.  In additon, many colleges “superscore” which means they will combine your best math from one test with your best reading or writing from another test thus creating your highest possible score, and then use this for your score.  So this is a big reason for taking the test multiple times if some of the colleges to which you are applying superscore.  Another reason to not hesitate to take these tests multiple times is that you may be able to select which test scores schools are able to see.  The College Board allows you to do this through a program called “Score Choice”.  The best reason to take these tests multiple times is so that you can improve your scores each time you take them.  In my experience, students who have the necessary skills and diligently work on improving their scores will raise their scores.

College Prep Timeline

A guide for when to prepare for admissions tests.

Parents frequently ask me when the best time is to prepare for the SAT and ACT.  Typically, the best time to prepare is during the Summer before or early during your child's junior year.  In an attempt to provide useful info, here are some suggestions to help juniors decide the best times for them to get started preparing for these tests and for selecting the right college:

11TH GRADE

  

• TAKE A PSAT/SAT PREP PROGRAM DURING THE SUMMER BEFORE OR IN THE EARLY FALL OF 11TH GRADE.
• TAKE PSAT TEST IN FALL. THE PSAT HAS 2 PURPOSES: 1) QUALIFIES STUDENTS FOR NATIONAL MERIT AWARDS AND 2) PRACTICE-STUDENTS BECOME MORE FAMILIAR WITH THE TEST AND GET FEEDBACK ON WHERE THEY STAND.
• EVALUATE PSAT RESULTS AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE.
• TAKE AN SAT AND/OR ACT PREP COURSE IN THE EARLY SPRING.
• TAKE THE SAT AND ACT.
• EVALUATE RESULTS. TAKE ANOTHER TEST IN THE LATE SPRING IF THERE IS STILL TIME AND IF YOU NEED A HIGHER SCORE.
• START COLLECTING INFORMATION ON COLLEGES.
• ATTEND AVAILABLE COLLEGE FAIRS.
• BEGIN TAKING COLLEGE VISITS.
• TAKE SAT SUBJECT TESTS IF NECESSARY. THESE ARE SPECIFIC TESTS TYPICALLY REQUIRED AT HIGHLY COMPETITIVE COLLEGES.

For the full timeline for all high school grades, please visit http://knowledgeguides.net/Suggested_Activities_for_each_Grade